so you clearly have eyes of an eagle, so, you know, you're in. and that was just how so many people, so many of the sailors that i interviewed, i mean, and they did it because of patriotism, they did it because it was the right thing to do, and we sent them to sea in these new and untested vessels that the navy thought initially was a colossal waste of money. no warship had ever been manned by an african-american crew, and the first warship to be manned by an african-american crew was the uss mason which was a destroyer escort. franklin roosevelt wanted to do something to end racial discrimination in the military and in industry, and, of course, he was a pragmatist. and he was also a shrewd politician. and he knew he had to be very careful, otherwise he'd alienate some of the southern political folks that just didn't have that same view. eleanor roosevelt, on the other hand, was a very strong proponent of equal rights and of doing something to end racial discrimination. so she continually prodded franklin roosevelt to do something. so he decided